Improvement in fire-escapes



o. HINKLE. Fire-Escapes.

No. 206,787. Patented Aug. 6,1878.

LILIULIU LILILILIU UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

CHARLES HINKLE, 0F WINFIELD, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FI RE-ESCAPES.

Specification forming part of Letters Iatent No. 206,787, dated August6, 1878; application filed January 7, 1878.

To all whom i t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs HINKLE, of Winfield, in the county of Henryand State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFire -Eseapes5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will en- -able othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, andin which- Figure l is a view of my fire-escape ladder elevated inposition to the sill of a window. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of thesame anda receptacle being elevated; and Fig. 3 is a similar detachedview of the ladder itself.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like' letters.

This invention appertains to certain ilnprovements in ire-escapeladders; and it consists in the employment, in connection with a ladder,of hooks attached to the window-sill of a building and a detachin gdevice, substantial] y as hereinafter more particularlyr set forth.

In the annexed drawing, A refers to an ordinary ladder. D B refer tohooks preferably secured to a plate, b, fastened to the windowsill. Theladder is suspended in position upon the hooks .B B by causing one ofits rounds to rest therein.

The ladder is elevated by a rope or wire, C, fastened to one of itsrounds and passing up through an eye or guide, c, in the plate b, andover two pulleys, D D1, both being attached to the plate b, in practiceelongated for that purpose, and thence down through an eye or guide, d,and around a windlass or drum, D", which is provided with a ratchet andpawl to prevent the unwinding of the rope or wire from the drum orwindlass.

lVhen the ladder is elevated in position to the windowsill it is readilydetached or east off by means of a device consisting of an axis or rod,E, resting in eyes or hangers fastened to the plate b and provided witharms e e, which, as the ladder is raised above the hooks B B, and therod or axis Eis rotated by drawing upon the rope or wire f fastened to ale` ver-arm, g, thereof, will be brought against the side pieces ot' theladder and force thel round of the ladder out from the hooks B D, andthus permit its detachment from the said hooks.

A receptacle, F, may be suspended from the rope lz, when desired, toremove articles ot clothing or persons from the burning building, thesaid rope passing once around and through the staple fastened to thewindow-sill and caught by the person within the house to permit thelowering and raising of said box or receptacle.

The ladder-hoisting rope or wire is preferably connected to a windlassprovided with a ratchet to hold it at any given point for its convenientmanipulation.

G is an additional ladder or ladders, having hooks ,jj for use inconnection with ladder A when occasion may require. k is a stop, againstwhich the lever-arm g strikes and limits the outward movement of thearms c c of the detachin g device.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s

1. The detachng device E e, arranged in relation to the hooks B so as todetach aladder lifted sufficiently to clear the same, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a fire-escape, the hooks B B and detachin g device E c c, incombination with the ladder A, hoisting rope or wire C, and pulley orpulleys D D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the hooks B, detaching device E c, lever g, cordf, and stop 1.', substantially a's shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own Ihereunto aix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

(JIIAS. IIINKLE. Witnesses:

W. C. BRYANT, E. C. HINKLE.

